Back in the USA!

Yes, we made it back from Ecuador. Other than the 45 minute delay in pulling away from the gate... caused by a 'fueling problem' (???)... it was a good flight on American Airlines.

Miami Airport is way more hassle than Ft. Lauderdale, and I think that next time we fly, if I have a choice, I'd take Ft. Lauderdale. But other than we were sweating getting to the French Consulate before they close at 4:30 (and getting stuck in rush hour traffic in Miami), it was not painful. The biggest problem is that American was late on the flight.

We made it to the French Consulate on time, and picked up our 'Long Stay Visas' for French Polynesia. For $200 each, a lot of paperwork, and 3 months waiting, we are legal to stay in French Polynesia for 6 months next year instead of the normal 3 months. This give us time to really enjoy FP and not hurry through like the rest of the cruisers, who are trying to make it to New Zealand by November. And our plan is to come back from Hawaii for another 3 months in 2011, before moving further west.

The visas were official looking full-passport-page stickers that have our photo on them. We had to bring our passport in and have them apply the sticker. Our visa starts 1 Mar 2010.

The traffic getting out of Miami at 5:15 wasn't nearly as bad as we'd feared. We stopped in Ft. Lauderdale for a run through the biggest West Marine store in Florida, and then at Big Red's BBQ place (just off I-95 on 84). I'd been thinking about good Florida-style BBQ for days... By the time we finished dinner, the traffic had died out and we had an easy run back to Satellite Beach.

The next day, we drove the rental to my brother's house, where Dave's car is stored, and picked it up and dropped the rental at Daytona Airport (with about 30 seconds to spare on our 1 day rental).

Yesterday, we started the round of scheduled doctor's visits, and shopping. Between Walmart, Beall's, and the Base Exchange, we spent $450 yesterday!!

Dave is off playing golf with buddies today, and I'm catching up on other things, and going sailing in the Rum Race at Melbourne Yacht Club this afternoon.

It's good to be back! (but we're leaving on Tuesday for Europe)

Sunday Afternoon in Quito

With only 2 days in Quito on this trip, we were having a hard time deciding what to do with our time. The weather was great so we decided to just walk around 'Ciudad Viejo' (old town) and experience Quito on a Sunday afternoon. It was a great decision. We hooked up with a solo Australian lady named Raylee--or rather, she hooked up with us. And took off with map in hand.


The Plaza Grande was totally packed... mostly with Ecuadorians just out enjoying a fine Sunday afternoon. They close down the central area to cars for a few hours, so it's very relaxing to just stroll the streets.

The Tourist Police were also out in force, watching over all the tourists. Downtown Quito can be dicey for unsuspecting tourists... pickpockets and all. Dave and I took the barest minimum--only what we could fit in secure pockets, and one of the things in our pockets were personal cans of pepper spray.

But Raylee had a big camera and backpack, and was warned twice by the police to be careful and carry the backpack in front of her. Fortunately, nothing happened.

The street performers were out in force, too. Musicians, artists, and just plain pan-handlers.



After we'd tired of walking around, we took a cab up to the Teleferico, a cable car to the top of a nearby mountain overlooking Quito.


It tops out at about 13,500 feet... the air is thin and cold and the wind was blowing. But the view was spectacular. We hiked around the paths at the top of the mountain and tried to figure out what we were looking at below us. We could see 3 volcanos in the distance, in different directions. And of course, the whole city of Quito below us.

The last stop was to see a couple of churches... the Basilica, the most recent large church constructed in this century, and the Compania (the Jesuit church). Unfortunately, both were closed on Sunday!

The best part... we managed to find our way back home (to the Secret Garden Hostal). We had a really nice time at happy hour, watching the sunset over Quito, and dinner on their 5th story patio.

Trains, Planes, and Automobiles

Well, we are on our way back to Melbourne... via a bus to Guayaquil, another bus to Quito (about 10-12 hours total travel time), an airplane to Miami, and a rental car from Miami to Melbourne. We'll spend 2 days in Quito, just sightseeing. And we fly into Miami on Tuesday.
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At 09/05/2009 8:00 AM (utc) our position was 02°12.97'S 080°55.33'W

Bottom Paint and Epoxy

Well, we finalized the deal for almost $3,000 worth of Hempel brand epoxy product and bottom paint today... here's the plan:

2 coats of Low Viscosity Epoxy Primer. This is a thin 2-part epoxy that flows easily. It is supposed seal up the fiberglass and fill in the pin-holes.

2 coats of Mastic

2 coats of Coal Tar Epoxy

1 coat of Chlorinated Rubber. This is a 'tie coat' that preps for the bottom paint.

4 coats of Hempel Globic Bottom Paint (in 2 colors).

We are hoping this will seal up the fiberglass bottom, keep from having more blisters, and provide good bottom paint for about 4 years of cruising the Pacific.

I've uploaded our spreadsheet with all the detailed Hempel paint product numbers. Here All this stuff was provided directly by the Hempel dealer in La Libertad (near PLYC).

I know you Facebook-ers probably aren't interested, but our fellow cruisers might be. Those of you with questions... email Dave! He'll probably put a more technical post in his Workshop section of the website when he gets a chance.

For now, we've stored all the paint stuff in a locker under the boat, so we can start applying the stuff as soon as we return.

Dave With All Paint Packed Away

The Cats Supervising the Paint Organizing

Dave Checking the Hull Moisture Level One More Time

Boat Surgery with a Chainsaw

A new boat has been put in the vacant slot next to us in the boat yard. It is a wooden Ecuadorian fishing vessel, about 50 feet long.


We were astounded to hear the distinctive sound of a chainsaw coming from next door. Dave went to investigate and found them performing 'surgery' on the stern, below the waterline, with a chainsaw (and they are still at it today).


Because labor is cheap, and import duties are high, it is much cheaper to keep an old old vessel running than to try to bring in a new one from outside the country.


Just the beginning of their surgery. This picture was taken early yesterday, and they are STILL running the chainsaw. (More subsequent pictures below)

Getting the Varnishing Done

Ignacio Varnishing
We don't have much exterior teak left on Soggy Paws, but we try to keep what little we still have looking nice. This time, with the help of another cruiser, we found Ignacio to do our varnishing.

Our friend Cameron, the captain of Morning Calm III, met Ignacio while out surfing in Salinas. Ignacio is a young Ecuadorian who loves to surf.

Though Ignacio already has a 12-hour night job at the local 'fish factory', Cameron hired Ignacio to help him do cleaning and sanding on Morning Calm for a few hours a day, in exchange for a surfboard. And Cam told us that Ignacio was a really hard worker. So when Cameron had no more work for him, we took him on.

Though he's never varnished before, he's a quick learner and follows direction well. Dave has coached him through the steps to prepare the teak and apply the varnish, and he's done a beautiful job on Soggy Paws' teak, with minimal supervision. This has freed Dave and I up to continue working on other things.

Dave also had him clean the topsides and polish all the exterior stainless. He's quick but meticulous, and really a hard worker.

Ignacio speaks a little English, and is working hard on learning more. He has helped Dave with some of the Spanish vocabulary when he was trying to deal with other people in Spanish.

Provisioning for the Pacific - Phase 1

One of the things I (Sherry) have been doing while Dave is working on his projects, is getting ready for our big Pacific Crossing provisioning. We will be 9 months getting from Ecuador to Hawaii, in very remote areas. Where we will find provisions, they will be very expensive.

The first step was to inventory all the stores currently on board, and eat up, or throw out old expired stuff.

That included the Shake n Pour pancake mix that EXPIRED in 2005! (We tried one package, it turned out lead pancakes that tasted musty. We dumped them and had cold cereal instead). We checked all the cans, and took out the ones starting to rust or were well expired. These went into the 'eat or trash' stack. The rest were cleaned of roach poop and put back, with the oldest ones in front.


One can, a big can of peaches was obviously bad... exploded looking. That one definitely was trashed. Another can had too much rust on the can seam, and looked like it might be breached, so I trashed it. I carefully scruitinize ALL the cans we open... make sure they don't look 'puffy', look at the contents carefully and give it the 'nose' test. So far, we've managed to avoid any problems, even with stuff that is 'a little' expired.

Once each locker was unloaded, it was carefully cleaned, and fumigated. We bought 2 spray cans of RAID in Costa Rica that is absolutely lethal to the roaches, if you get it anywhere near them. (on the other hand, I have drowned a roach in a competing product, and it walked away).

So the locker first got RAID-ed and closed for awhile. Then when everything was dry, we sprinkled some Roach Pruf (powdered Boric Acid) in the nether reaches.

Then I loaded everything back into the locker, recording quantities and locations in my 'Where Stuff Is' spreadsheet.


I've also been combing the aisles at the local supermarket... trying new stuff, and seeing what's where. It's important to make sure we don't buy 20 cans of some Ecuadorian brand of something, and find out it tastes horrible.

I have also been reading other peoples 'Provisioning Tips for the Pacific' info on websites. One particularly good website was from s/v Ocelot

Ocelot Polynesia Provisioning Advice

This account is from 2004/2005, so the prices won't be exactly accurate, but the rest of the advice should be pretty golden.

So now I'm ready to start thinking about loading up for 9 months in the Pacific. We'll take advantage of the convenience of the local supermarket here in Salinas, before we leave in November. And do a final provisioning from Bahia de Caraquez, at the local fresh food market, and a 1 hr bus ride into the supermakets in the city of Manta) just before we leave.

Boat Work

While Soggy Paws continues to dry out, Dave has been busying working down his 'high priority before crossing the Pacific' and 'must do while hauled out' projects lists.

He spent a couple of days polishing the prop & other bronze underwater fittings, and installing a new zinc.

He has rebuilt several of our pumps... our galley macerator had gotten erratic, the forward head macerator wouldn't work, and several spare macerators needed checking. One extra macerator motor needed rewinding, so he took it into town to a motor guy, and got it fixed up for $12. Then he installed new bearings, shafts and seals in our two spare engine raw water pumps so they would be ready for quick replacement if needed.

He took our Monitor Wind Vane off, made some adjustments to the gear mesh play because when we finally got to use it on our trip from Costa Rica, we found the gears were way too loose. Then of course it had to be all shined up.

While he was at it, he also raised the swim platform about 10". It was too low and kept slamming right next to our head in the water, when we were trying to sleep in rolly Pacific anchorages.

And we've got new Boat Name and Hailing Port vinyl lettering on order back in the States with Speedy Signs.

He re-plumbed our 2 3700 GPH electric bilge pumps with new Tigerflex smooth bore hose. Now these emergency pumps discharge into the cockpit. While doing so, he found one of the discharge hoses was completely blocked with oyster-like growth. Hmmm... that's probably why it wasn't pumping water out! Then he replumbed our big manual pump with the same hose.

The details of his bilge pump arrangement are on our Soggy Paws Plumbing page, under Bilge Pump Engineering if you are interested.

The past couple of days he has been equalizing the batteries and tracing down a voltage drop on one bank. And so it goes. Next is a week of engine work.

Soggy Paws, Bare and Drying Out

Our Boatyard Cats

We have been adopted by the local boatyard cats... I wonder why??? Since the first day when we were walking back from the bathrooms, and 2 of these kitties started trotting alongside us... "Oh boy, new people to feed us!" We have been feeding them.

These amazing cats can climb a 10' ladder, easily. And what's more amazing is, they can climb right back down again, as neat as you please.


So now, in the mornings when we go out to the bathroom, there are 3 cats sitting at the bottom of the ladder waiting for us. And we know when it's 5 o'clock in the evening... all 3 cats gather and wait for dinner.


If we're a little late for feeding time, Tripper, the boldest of the cats, will come on board to remind us. We have found morning cat prints all over the deck. If we want to keep the cats off, we have to prop the ladder out away from the hull with a broom handle.

Tripper Sneaking Aboard
We have been Skyping with friends on s/v Restless in Chile, who were here 2 years ago. They are cat people too, and are glad to get news of the cats, Tripper and Marie. They have been trying to talk us into taking them with us when we leave. I asked them why there are no cats aboard Restless...

Tripper, looking in at Restless in 2007
The cats also, in typical cat fashion, like to get in the middle of whatever project Dave is working on.

Tripper, helping Dave work

Anti-Bird Device

When we got back on Soggy Paws from 6 weeks in Peru, the boat was fine. Except the deck was completely befowled with bird-poo.

Dave spent about 2 hours scrubbing it down. But at dusk... the pesky bird came home to roost... on the top of our mast. It was a huge Man-O-War bird. We banged the rigging and it flew away. But during dinner, we heard a 'splat' on deck. Yup, he was back, and had just splatted Dave's clean deck.

So the next day, Dave made an 'anti-bird device'. He went up the mast and took down our wind arrow... it's the first thing to go when big birds start roosting on your mast. And then he made a template of the mast top, using an old plastic placemat.


The end result was a plywood 'cap' for the top of the mast (with a hole cut out for the light and lightning dissipator), that has long screws sticking up. He also tied a piece of string from the back of the rod that the masthead fly was on, up to the top of the trilight.

Update: August 10...So far (in 10 days), no more poopy birds!